Barry Laverty, MD, can barely find the village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to begin his position as a medical assistant in a small rural practice. There he meets Dr Fingal Flaherty O'Reilly, an elderly rural physician whose first motto is to 'never let the patients get the upper hand'. Barry can't decide whether the pugnacious O'Reilly is the greatest charlatan he has ever met or possibly the best teacher he could ever hope for. Ballybucklebo is a long way from Belfast and Barry soon discovers that he has a lot to learn from country life.